HotelWorld Design Competition Annouces That Allerton Hotel Has Best-designed Guest Rooms

Rooms at Hotel Singled-out Over Those at Las Vegas' Mirage and the Hyatt Regency Monterey

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. March 06, 2009

CHICAGO, IL, March 5, 2009 - The full-service hotel with the world's best-designed guest rooms isn't a Hyatt Regency, W, Hilton or a flashy Las Vegas property.

It's The Allerton Hotel Chicago, the historical landmark-designated 1922-24 Chicago property that helped spur the redevelopment of North Michigan Avenue into the Magnificent Mile. Fresh off last summer's $10-million remodel as part of $85 million in renovations since 1999, the Allerton was singled-out for having the best-designed guest rooms of any full-service hotel in the world in the HotelWorld Global Hospitality and Design Awards, announced March 3, 2009, in Las Vegas.

The Allerton lead this year's field of 28 hotel and restaurant finalists with three separate "Best Design" nominations - in the full-service guestroom, full-service lobby/public space and full-service restaurant/lounge categories, the later for the hotel's sleek new M Avenue Restaurant. No other hotel in the world was nominated in three categories, and only two other properties received two nominations.

The Allerton's competition in the guest room category included Las Vegas' Mirage Hotel and the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa in Northern California.

The HotelWorld Global Hospitality and Design Awards recognize excellence in hotel and restaurant design and leadership, and celebrate the accomplishments of the true leaders in the hospitality industry. Twenty-five hospitality and design awards will be presented during a dinner ceremony March 3, 2009, in Las Vegas during the city's International Hospitality Week.

"Our intent with the redesign of The Allerton was to blend the hotel's famed Italian Renaissance exterior with a sleek, modern-contemporary interior, thereby re-establishing it as the uniquely Chicago destination it has been for most of its 85-year history," explained Andrea Mayer, general manager. "It would appear by the award for our guest rooms - and the sheer number of nominations we received - that our vision has become a reality."

Working with Hager & Associates of Vancouver, British Columbia, hotel owners completed a top-to-bottom remodel of the property in August 2008 - encompassing a dramatic redesign of all guest rooms and public spaces, relocation of the hotel lobby back to its original second-floor setting, where it was combined with the new M Avenue restaurant and lounge, and creation of elaborate new ballrooms and meeting spaces.

The property was purchased in November 2006 by ALT Hotel Partners, LLC, a joint venture between The Chartres Lodging Group, LLC, of San Francisco, and Perry Capital of New York, and shed its Crowne Plaza affiliation in February 2007 as part of the owners' plans to reclaim its status as one of Chicago's legendary independent hotels - and one of only a few historically and architecturally significant hotels directly on Michigan Avenue.

The John Hardy Group, Inc., served as project manager for the renovation while Kokua Hospitality, LLC, a management affiliate of Chartres Lodging, provided onsite assistance as part of their ongoing role as property manager.

The design by Hager & Associates updated the hotel's interior with clean, contemporary lines and appointments while maintaining its architecturally significant presence at the heart of Chicago's famed shopping, dining and cultural district. Architects repositioned elevators and other barriers to create a theatrical, free-flowing, second-floor gathering space to serve as the new home for the hotel's lobby, registration, concierge and newly designed M Avenue.

Second-floor design additions included a monolithic, two-sided glass fireplace; communal furniture with plug-in stations; floor-length metallic draperies; and a series of intimate seating areas with lounge-like chairs and ottomans. Guest rooms and suites were updated with a sophisticated residential design encompassing tufted headboards, dramatic floor and window treatments and other unexpected furniture and decorative elements.

Other elements of the renovation included a redesigned first-floor motor lobby off East Huron Street, an expanded and newly-equipped fitness center, and reappointed ballrooms and meeting spaces, including creation of the new, 2,100-square-foot Buckingham Ballroom in the previous site of the third-floor lobby.

Located in the heart of the Magnificent Mile, The Allerton Hotel Chicago is steps from the shops, restaurants, museums and galleries of the Magnificent Mile, including Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Chanel, Burberry, Cole Haan, Nordstrom, American Girl Place, NIKETOWN, Apple Store and ESPN Zone. Also within walking distance are the Chicago campus of Northwestern University, Water Tower Place, Chicago Children's Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Navy Pier and Shedd Aquarium.

Allerton Hotel History

Chicago's first high-rise building to be built with pronounced setbacks, towers and upper-story design elements encouraged by the new municipal zoning laws of the 1920s, the Allerton Hotel Chicago represents a rare Chicago example of North Italian Renaissance architecture, featuring decorative brickwork, carved stone details and a picturesque roofline evocative of Milan and Verona in the 14th and 15th centuries. Built over a span of three years by the Allerton House Company, a national chain of "club hotels" combining the services of a hotel with the sociability of a private club, the 25-story hotel is credited with helping to turn Chicago's North Michigan Avenue into a chic boulevard of exclusive stores, restaurants and clubs that was later christened the Magnificent Mile.

The Allerton is probably best known locally for its Tip-Top-Tap, the legendary 23rd-floor cocktail lounge and club that served as the home of Don McNeil's "Breakfast Club" radio show in the 1950s. The Tip-Top-Tap closed in the 1960s; however, the neon Allerton and Tip-Top-Tap signs remain as iconic symbols of the Chicago skyline. http://www.theallertonhotel.com/